Roth IRA

 A Roth IRA may be the best investment vehicle a person can do. 

Here are some of my unpaid for thoughts on it:

1) Grows Tax Free 

2) No taxes on withdrawals at 59.5 yrs

3) You can borrow money from the account for certain things like house downpayment - this means your money isn't necessarily tied up forever

That is all pretty good. The government thinks this is such an incredible vehicle they limit what you can contribute to this.  

My oldest worked as a W2 this year and made almost $2k. I opened a Roth IRA for him. Most open Roth IRA's with their first full time job after college - think 25-30 years old. 

Investing in one 10-15 years earlier can have drastic consequences on the compounding.  

Will he be set for life? No, not by a long shot. 

Will it help? For sure. 

And this feels like a gift that won't be realized until long after I am gone. Something about having something that is going that my kids will benefit from feels good. 

But life is pretty ironic. This account could easily do well and my name never gets mentioned.